Animal lovers are celebrating the enforcement of the European Union’s ban on using animals to test cosmetics for skin and eye irritancy, sensitivity to light, corrosivity, absorption through the skin and genetic and acute toxicity, whether or not there are alternatives available. This is a great victory for animal welfare and animal rights campaigners, but, unfortunately, it places the United States even farther behind the EU in that area. While vivisection for medical and “scientific” research will take longer to phase out, there is no reason we should not eliminate unneccesary and cruel cosmetic animal testing.
I’m sure many people would be surprised to know how many household products are tested on animals. It is not difficult to learn about the evils of vivisection, however. Even if you are not a supporter of PETA, you may be wondering what you can do to end this practice.
While public protests may not be your style, you can exercise your power as a conscientious consumer by avoiding animal-tested products. Visist CaringConsumer.org to view PETA’s list of companies that do and don’t test on animals, or check LeapingBunny.org for companies certified by Leaping Bunny as cruelty free. Two examples of cruelty-free products are Seventh Generation (cleaning products, detergent, etc.) and Mrs. Meyers Clean Day (cleaning products).
In order to fight animal research, you may want to consider not donating to charities that support vivisection. Certain prominent environmental organizations actually support animal testing for products like pesticides and insecticides; however, many of these groups are effective at campaigning for environmental issues, even if they ignore animal rights concerns. In addition, many medical research companies use vivisection. While some experiments are to test new theories, many, such as those that force chimpanzees to inhale tobacco smoke or alcohol, are unnecessary. Furthermore, animals’ bodies are different from humans,’ so research on animals is not always reliable.
Whether or not you believe that animal experimentation is acceptable under certain circumstances, it is a good idea to be educated about this issue.
To learn more about PETA’s campaign against animal testing, you can visit StopAnimalTests.com.
Through a Green Lens 